Please re-encode this in 24bit 96kHz FLAC. This is the greatest thing ever.

This is so great! I love listening to these tapes and they bring back so many fond memories of shopping at Kmart. We are lucky for the time being -- we still have ours, and while it's not the only discount store in town any more, there are things I can find here that I can't anywhere else.

I, too, wonder the same thing, whether the instrumental tracks were specially recorded for Kmart or if they are standard elevator music jingles that many companies used. I really l like the instrumental at the beginning -- whoever wrote it knows a snappy melody when he or she hears one. Yes, the piano interlude is a bit jarring, but overall, it's a really smooth track.

Thank you again for saving these !

Thank you ever so much for this treasure.

This is so totally up my alley. I love stuff like incidental music...old jingles/commercials and the like. I also have a pretty high tolerance (compared to many) for muzak, so these are great fun.

My personal favorite is actually the first instrumental. I love it (well, the bright piano bridge that pops up a couple times isn't my favorite, but I love the rest of it.) With all our internet technology, there still isn't much help in identifying instrumentals.

Which brings up another question...I wonder whether the instrumentals on this tape are all "real" songs (legitimate releases by existing bands) or are some of them written especially for kmart? Some of them (like the first one) sound mighty generic.

(Updated Oct 2nd, 2017) muroface...I was so hoping that you were on to something in naming that first song. That link was to some sort of remix of that song with a simple guitar part dubbed overtop of it. Released in 2016. But this song had to have been released in the 80's. Still wondering...

Thank you for the great upload. I've been trying to figure out the title of the first song for a while now. Anybody who is able to name it is doubtlessly worthy of all the internet respect I can muster!

Attention, Kmart shoppers: here's one for the oddity file.

Mark Davis worked behind the Service Desk at the Naperville, IL Kmart in the late '80s and early '90s. Every month, corporate office issued a cassette to be played over the store speaker system — canned elevator-type music with advertisements seeded every few tracks. Around 1991, the muzak was replaced with mainstream hits, and the following year, new tapes began arriving weekly. The cassettes were supposed to be thrown away, but Davis dutifully slipped each tape into his apron pocket to save for posterity. He collected this strange discount department store ephemera until 1993, when background music began being piped in via satellite service.

Nearly 20 years on, Davis has digitized his whole collection, 56 cassettes in all, and just recently, made the recordings available at archive.org accompanied by some more background on this bizarre treasure trove. For a taste, listen below to the sweet, sweet sounds of October 1989.

thank you for creating this website. many memories of k-mart, all good! i have been a loyal customer since 1963. still a loyal customer in 2017. my store is located in Waterford Mi. 5100 Dixie Hwy. this is the best K-mart i have been in so far. been in many stores in my years. in NYC and MI. this store is well stocked, neat , clean and has great employees. check it out if you live within driving distance. i don't go to Target or Wal Mart.
nor Kohl's. nothing of ny interest there for me. K-Mart has things other store do not have.

Hi there I am a photo editor at a magazine, trying to source some Kmart items for a photo shoot, can you let me know if you have anything in addition to these amazing tapes?

Thank you
Jane, jyeomans@bloomberg.net

is Closing to Part One by Gardnsound, on the album W (I think?)

http://gardnsound.com/track/closing-to-part-one

I've never been to a Kmart since we don't have them in Canada, but damn, this is actually really nice to listen to. At least the first song two songs are, which are the only two I've listened to so far.

I absolutely love this stuff. Does anyone have information about the first song? I've heard it some place before but I can't remember..

Wow. You've just taken me back to the beautiful days of my childhood. Thank you. I hope these will forever stay available, as they are treasure to me. Is there anyway I download these?

By the way, to the guy denoising them and making them sound better...that's ruining it. The fuzz and the tape saturation is what makes these cassette tapes sound so authentic.

Okay, so my time working for Kmart was ten years before this, but still it's a great piece of retail history! Good job!!

"In My Mind" by Janey Street
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WApR71W07p4

:-)

I believe these recordings could be denoised and the sound quality improved. Exampler: http://valet2.com/sounds/kmart-denoise-2.mp3
The music on these cassettes is awesome!!

Thanks for uploading and sharing. Great piece of history. I was directed here by a Dan Bell video on YouTube. Good job!

Finally tracked it down. The second song at 2:32
is Nicolette Larson's cover of Larry Willoughby's "Building Bridges". The track is off her album ...Say When.

I was listening to that mystery song at 42 minutes in, since a couple people were asking who this artist is. I didn't recognize the song, but soon it hit me, "I know that voice!" .... as it's a friend of mine! She was signed to Arista Records in the '80s and released one album with them. Her name is Janey Street. She charted with "Under the Clock" and "Say Hello To Ronnie" from her album "Heroes, Angels & Friends" but not this song. I checked the album, and this song in question is "In My Mind" - the last song on the album. I'm so glad I have this whole album on CD (I'd been looking for years) - it's very rare but it's available as a bonus gift if you pay for a 1-year membership to her fan club. Great songs. Great person. Great songwriter. (I've written 4 songs with her myself - as that's what I do for a living). I'll have to let her know that people were asking about this song!

It is driving me insane!! anyone know the artist or the song title?!

I don't know about all the songs, but songs played include Nicolette Larson's "Building Bridges", Neil Diamond's "You Make It Feel Like Christmas", Barbra Streisand's "Clear Sailing" (from 1984's "Emotion" album), Johnny Mathis' "When The Lovin' Goes Out Of The Lovin'", Lee Greenwood & Barbara Mandrell's "To Me", Dionne Warwick's version of EWF's "Can't Hide Love", Engelbert Humperdinck's "Can't Help Falling In Love", Olivia Newton John's "Goodbye Again", and Tom Jones' "That's Where I Belong"...I still don't know what the song is at 42:13, but the singer sounds awfully familiar. There's also a disco tune at 102:26 that I'd like to know and an instrumental that sounds like 80's Herb Alpert towards the end, yet I can't pin it down...I do hate earworms!!!

Nice! But who sings the vocal songs, especially at 42:13? I tried googling the lyrics, but I couldn't find it.

Thanks for uploading these. It's a great piece of history and a slice of consumerism. I wonder who the announcer is! Also, if you didn't hear, Martha Stewart is a lifestyle consultant for Kmart.

Nothing left to say.

I haven't consulted with Martha Stewart or anything, but I assume she would recommend listening to this fascinating bit of history. Thanks so much for uploading it!

Thanks. This is a great collection.

It's hard to imagine that, back then, there was still crime and wars and bad stuff...but this music makes you forget all that. Thank you.

Just ask Martha Stewart, our consultant for everything in the store!

I can't really explain but I've always had this strange fascination with old elevator music. Perhaps the way it takes you back to the good ol days when things were a lot simpler. Anyway, you are godsend! Thanks for sharing these! So grateful for your interview on NPR.

Do you happen to have the tapes for November or December 1989? Holiday Kmart muzak?

Is that still on sale by chance?

Kinda into the muzak up til 1:51, but I can imagine how fucking mind-numbing/boring/annoying/infuriating it must have been after the third+ time of hearing it. Thank you for this time capsule. As a former retail associate, I empathize and salute you.

Seemingly meaningless, a submission like this is vitally important to capturing the consumer-based culture of the 80's and 90's. Regarded by most as throwaway material, these tapes, oddly enough, are probably more important than historical accounts of this time period. It sounds dramatic, but you've really done a great service for American history!!

This makes me want to kill myself, probably with liquor and benzos, so it will be slow, painful and depressing.

Which is to say, it's just like being in a K-Mart in the late '80s. Yay...? Five stars.

Just ask Martha Stewart, our entertainment and lifestyle consultant.

I was not prepared for the CBS "Major Dad" advertisement at 18:00.

This is the best.

You are a true saint. Praise.

The world was just so calm and full of shopportunity

For me, this may actually be as good as a time capsule can get.